


Sunlit Souls

by imaginary_golux



Category: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, M/M, Possibly Unrequited Love, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22842721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Yves' daemon finally settles when he is sixteen.Beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.
Relationships: Olivier de Bretagne/Yves Hugonin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	Sunlit Souls

Yves’ Jeanne takes a while to settle; sometimes she is an elegant hawk, sometimes a hunting hound, sometimes a curious ferret, and then again a mouse or a hedgehog or a hare - as many forms as there are days in a year, it sometimes seems. Ermina’s Guiscard has settled by the time she is thirteen, into a sleek cat as beautiful and composed as she is herself, but Jeanne continues shifting her form into whatever best pleases her until Yves is well into his sixteenth year.

Olivier’s Sahar, of course, has been a sleek leopard since well before Yves ever met her. She and Olivier observe events with matching calm, golden eyes, and Yves, seeing her for the first time in le Gaucher’s halls, knew at once the courage and honor of Olivier’s soul. It was Sahar who bore Jeanne out of le Gaucher’s castle, with Jeanne in the form of a mouse clinging to her fur as Olivier and Yves raced to follow them and the castle burned behind them all.

Yves has, of course, never touched Sahar, but he has occasionally woken from dreams where it was he, and not his soul, who rode the graceful leopard to safety, clinging to her thick fur as the wind rushed past his ears. Jeanne teases him sometimes, gently, and only when they are alone: _she_ can play and wrestle and gambol with Sahar, in whatever form she likes, in the way that Yves only wishes he could with Olivier.

Jeanne finally settles when Yves is sixteen. It is a hot midsummer day, and pretty much everyone in the household has gone down to a small lake near the keep; it’s in shadow of a number of tall trees, so those who don’t wish to bathe can still sit in the shade and feel the breeze, and it’s an odd, irregular shape, so that the ladies can have one end and the gentlemen the other, and all propriety still be observed. Yves throws himself into the water with gleeful abandon, the other young knights and squires around him doing the same, and he gets into a splashing, glorious wrestling match with one of his cousins, which only ends when his uncle bellows at them both. Jeanne laughs at him from shore as he flops down into the shallows, and shifts into an otter to come and cavort about him.

He looks up in time to see Olivier rising from the deeper water several yards out into the lake, looking rather like some sort of pagan god. The light catches on the water as it drips from the ends of Olivier’s hair, turning it to drops of gold, and he turns and smiles - it seems he smiles right at Yves - and Yves is glad he is sitting down, because he suspects he would _fall_ down if he were standing, from the sudden force of the revelation that hits him.

Jeanne eels up to stand in his lap, bracing her paws on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes with a little chirp. Many people don’t realize it when their souls find their true form, but Yves feels it, like something settling in his chest, something he hadn’t quite realized was loose. It slots into place beside his newest realization, his soul’s shape and his heart’s truth nestling against each other within the cage of his ribs.

Olivier sits down beside him and claps him on the shoulder, and Jeanne goes galloping up the shore to pounce on Sahar where the leopard is lounging in the shade, and Yves finds a smile somewhere for his dearest friend. “Is the water well?”

“Very well,” Olivier says merrily, and sprawls out so his head is cushioned on a mossy stone and his body is entirely submerged. Yves shifts a little so his shadow falls across Olivier’s face. “Thank you, my gallant,” Olivier says softly.

“It is nothing,” Yves says, and leans back on his hands, watching the clouds scud across the sky. His soul is an otter, playful and intelligent and industrious; his heart is Olivier’s entirely; and it is a beautiful day. All other problems can wait a while.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the FFC prompt "Daemon AU."
> 
> I actually went and looked up heraldic symbolism for this! The mentioned daemons are as follows:  
> Jeanne - “God is gracious”; otter: intelligence and industriousness  
> Sahar - “dawn”; leopard: a valiant warrior  
> Guiscard - “wise and brave”; cat: vigilance and courage


End file.
